Kayden is having emergency "exploratory" surgery tonight for a possible intestinal blockage.

He woke me up this morning (well yesterday morning now) acting like he needed to go out and when I took him out he vomited (I noticed chunks of his black kong in it). I feed him this morning and he vomited up his food shortly after (more Kong). I came home at lunch to check on him and his crate was filled with vomit (and more kong).

When I got home from the shelter I tried to feed him but he wouldn't eat anything (turkey, hot dogs, peanut butter, etc...). I checked his gums and they seemed a bit white and dry so I took him into the e-vet. They did x-rays and although they couldn't definitely tell what was going on in there they said there is something definitely wrong in there and they feel it is most likely a blockage.

As I was leaving they were calling in the surgeon on call to come in tonight for surgery.

I had a cat that had to have this surgery and we saw lots of dogs having it while I was working for the vets (mostly labs). The tricky time is usually the first 24 hours. Once they're through surgery and pooping again, you can start to relax.

On a similar note Doogie ate an entire Kong but I lucked out and he vomited/passed all the pieces. Poor Kayden! I'll be thinking good thoughts.

~Jeanine

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

I probably help nurse at least one foreign body/ foreign object patient (usually dogs) a week.

What do you want to know ?

I know its impossible not to worry, but Kayden is young and strong and otherwise healthy, I'm sure he'll do just fine

And just so you don't feel singled out on this, Oscar has ejected numerous (5 +) foreign objects from his gut. (and this is super-duper cautious me)I'm so careful with what he can get access to and still it happens.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

The surgeon said they found remnants of the block kong in his stomach and small intestine and also found what looked like a piece of a gardening glove stuck in the area where the stomach meets the small intestine (forgot the technical term). I noticed about 2 weeks ago that one of my gloves (not gardening) had the thumb chewed off by one of the dogs. Is it possible that thing has been in his stomach this long?

Anyway, one of the pieces of the kong pierced his small intestine so they had to remove a section of his intestines and reattach it. The surgeon said they flushed it with saline and there was no leakage but no matter how well the surgical technique is there is a 8-11% of a re-tear over the new few days. She also said his white blood cell count was unusually low but it could have been due to the foriegn body but she definitely wants to monitor that over the next few weeks.

They have him on morphine and are starting him on anti-biotics because of his low white blood cell count and will be keeping him for the next few days to monitor him. Of course his surgeon is getting ready to leave town today so they will be handing him over to the other resident surgeon and resident surgeon intern

I went thru something similar with Dante when i first adopted him...scary stuff. Actually, I thought he was bloating and the e-vet thought possible obstruction...turned out to be kibble that clumped up in the part of his stomach that meets his intestines. A night on IV helped break it up and it passed...but we prepped for possible surgery and I was told that there could be intestinal damage with obstruction b/c the tissue dies...so i know how worried you must have been

I'm so sorry that he needed the surgery, but I'm glad you took him to the vet right away. A preforated intestine is no joke. Feel better Kayden